So my doctor prescribed to me amitriptyline for headaches. This is an antidepressant in the same class as prozac. Before swallowing the pill, I chewed off a small piece of it in order to taste it and let it absorb through my mouth. It then made my entire tongue go numb for roughly 2 hours! Like not a subtle numb, but novocaine numb, potentially stronger. Completely numb for 2 hours. This amitriptyline was quite literally a long acting numbing agent that you swallow. This made me really curious, is prozac like this too? If anyone has prozac, could you chew off a small piece of the pill, let it absorb through your mouth, and see if it makes your tongue and mouth go numb? It further makes me wonder, are all antidepressants like this? If you have any antidepressant, could you chew off a small piece of the pill, let it absorb through your mouth and see if it makes your mouth go numb? This really surprised me because I have heard people say that antidepressants numb you to your feelings. But I thought it was just a metaphor. I did not expect that it would LITERALLY do this. I mean this is what the amitriptyline literally did, it was quite literally like I had got a shot of Novocaine in my tongue where I had let the pill dissolve. Honestly I think all the fancy sounding mumbo jumb of 'it blocks this receptor and that receptor' is just code for 'it numbs what it touches'.
Hmmmm thats very interesting. Yeah antidepressants definetely do numb you to your feelings, its like they make you a walking zombie that doesnt feel too strongly one way or the other. I would stay away from them.
amitriptylline is not in the same class as prozac Ami is part of the "older" family of anti-depressants, but is used widely still because it works, and is also good for persons with chronic pain or depression with pain features. Prozac is an SSRI, the newer family of anti-depressants. Not too sure about the numbness you experienced, but it seems quite possible as these drugs have direct effects on communication between neurons. SSRIs would probably have less of a numbing effect, as they are more specific than TCAs.
this is true. also, these drugs don't specifically "block" any neurotransmitters. instead they help to prevent the breakdown of them, leaving more for your receptors to soak up. but anyway i just tried this with my lexapro (escitalopram), an antidepressant in the SSRI class. no numbing, just a really bitter taste and a strange sensation in my mouth but not really numb.
